quality literature: welcome to the world, baby girl!

i know i've been lagging in the reading department lately, but i'm hoping that with summer vacation just around the corner i'll get caught up.  i did finally finish a couple fannie flagg novels.  fannie flag is the author (and screenwriter) of "fried green tomatoes (at the whistle stop café)."  she is pretty much awesome.  i also read "daisy fay and the miracle man" sometime in my mid-twenties, but need to read it again.  i remember it being utterly fabulous, but can't remember much else.  i guess twenty years of living can cause you to forget a few things.  anyway, i just finished reading "welcome to the world, baby girl!" and "can't wait to get to heaven" and can't wait to read the rest that she's written.  her plots are slow and meandering and simply go nowhere fast, but she more than makes up for this with her rich characterizations and subtle life lessons.

"welcome to the world, baby girl!" is set in new york in the early 70's and chronicles the life of a woman on the fast track to superstardom in the news industry.  there are lots of flashbacks to her early life and that of her mother, so the novel is packed with small town atmosphere, charming characters, and obscure history.  i came away with a confirmation of my belief that the news industry is driven by entertainment value, not fact.  pretty much if we're watching the liberal or conservative cable channels, we're hearing what we want to hear and not the whole story (and if we think obama is the messiah or the antichrist, we might want to rethink that view - he's human like the rest of us).  there was also a major plot twist at the end that i totally did not see coming and that brought to light a tiny scrap of history that i'd actually not heard of before.  solid recommend.

"can't wait to get to heaven" is even more meandering.  it's set in a small town in the midwest with a few trips to heaven and centers around a delightful octogenarian who is equal parts wide eyed innocence and unabashed wisdom.  i want to be aunt elner when i grow up.  it would be so wonderful to look at the world with such love and understanding that rose colored glasses aren't even necessary.  solid recommend.